Minister for Sport: Great that Thomas Hitzlsperger is out but homophobia causes too many to hide

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The FA has done nowhere near enough to (a) tackle homophobia on the terraces and (b) provide support for players who want to come out. Soccer needs a campaign along the lines of, “Some people are gay. Get over it”.
Any suggestions ….?

Yes, a campaign like that would certainly help matters. Sadly, football is one of the last refuges of homophobia and biphobia. Many homophobes and biphobes seek comfort in that sport for their prejudices. Perhaps, if there were current Premiership footballers that were openly gay or bisexual the ones who have a slightly bigger brain capacity would start to rethink their attitudes?

Patriarchy is the problem women have suffered and gay people have suffered the brunt of patriarchy and its gender binary even though society has become largely secular patriarchal remnants remain. For straight men patriarchy says they are superior masculine and dominant, for women they are to be submissive, feminine and obedient. sexuality is presented as man over woman in other words a man`s duty is to sexually dominate a woman, anything else is portrayed as perverted, Straight men do not fear the attraction of homosexuality so much but they fear anal sex because they view anal sex as domination which must be reserved for a woman only. This is why straight men are more homophobic than women, they view homosexuality as a challenge to their masculinity and authority because patriarchy says men must be masculine and live up to its stereotypes in order to be a real man.

Its roots are firmly in religion because both women and gay people have been oppressed by patriarchy.

I think you are right, to a degree. Many people have been conditioned by religion to fear homosexuality. But many people experience same-sex desire. I believe homophobia is a manifestation of the self-hatred people who have experienced these desires feel. So they suppress them but project those desires onto gay people. “That gay guy fancies me” ….. when, in fact, it is the other way around. There is now a huge amount of evidence which points to this fact. ‘Show me a homophobe: I’ll show you a closet case’.

I’ve often wondered if the ability for gay men to hide is what has slowed down our fight for equality, compared to the black rights movement. If we couldn’t hide, then maybe we’d have a gay president of the USA or a UK prime minister. But because we can hide, I think that’s a long way off.